Courage
by Heart'sgem
Summary: Sora is going on another adventure, and leaving behind Kairi once again. But Kairi is sick of being left behind, and the decision she makes changes everything. Then everything gets worse when an old enemy returns...
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first story, and I had a good time writing it. I want to thank my sis and my guardian wolf for helping me start it! Enjoy! Oh, and this is in Kairi's P.O.V... I also don't own any of the characters and such. Yada yada yada. I'll just let you read the story.**

"No! No, no, no! You can't leave me again!" I lowered my head so he couldn't see the tears running down my face. My face was wet with tears, and my dark pink hair was sticking to it.

"Come on Kairi," said Sora, "it won't be _that_ long of a trip. You have been by yourself before, and this time Riku is staying with you too."

"_What?_" I looked up slightly to see a _very_ angry Riku. "I am the one that decides if I should go or not! You can't tell me what to do!"

"Someone has to stay behind to protect Kairi," said my boyfriend, but right now he was looking like my _ex_-boyfriend.

I wiped the tears from my face and glared at Sora. "I don't need protection, Sora. I have a keyblade, and I can defend myself."

"_Really_?" Now Sora looked ticked too. He summoned his keyblade and swung at me. I quickly summoned my keyblade and parried it. (Do sword terms work on keyblades?)

That _jerk_. I don't believe he attacked me! Just to prove his point. What a little boy. He is _definitely_ my ex-boyfriend now. "See? I can defend myself. Maybe Riku and I should go, and leave _you_ behind."

Sora looked like he wanted to explode. "I don't want you to get hurt Kairi." I was surprised that he sounded so calm. Maybe I should forgive- No. I can't back down now. "Besides," he continued, "you don't even know where to go."

I was about to make a sharp retort, but Riku beat me to it. "Oh yeah?" He sounded eerily calm. I would _not_ want to be Sora in this conversation. "You don't know where to go either. The only thing the King told us was that the worlds were disappearing, again, and he wanted us to find the source by going to the other worlds and seeing how they disappear. We could go anywhere we want."

Sora turned around, so I couldn't see his face, but I was sure that he was angry. "I don't care what you say. I am leaving tomorrow morning. Alone." He stormed off. Riku stormed off to in the opposite direction, leaving me by myself.

"I am not a weakling," I said to myself. "I will show them..."

**I hope you liked it! Please reply... I try to end my stories on cliff-hangers so that more people reply. I tried my hardest with this story! Just reply and say if it is good or bad. That is all I need. I have the first couple of chapters written out already, but I will give everyone a chance to reply. REPLY!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't believe I got reviews already! Thanks for taking the time to write them. I do not own any of the characters from Kingdom Hearts. This is in Riku's P.O.V. Enjoy!**

I wake up and see silver. I am confused for a second, and then I realize it is my hair. I am still groggy from sleep, but then I remember last night. I am instantly awake. I am really pissed with Sora, thinking he is all that. I feel sorry for Kairi, though. She has been left behind so much. I should see how she is doing later.

I get ready, but I refrain from looking at the mirror. I can still remember when I fell into the darkness. I looked like _Xehanort_. I hated myself then, and I stayed away from mirrors. I still can't believe I am normal now. Well, appearance wise. I am still mentally scarred, and there is nothing I can do about it. I still avoid mirrors, afraid that I will see him there.

I head over to the house. I love walking on the beach in the morning. The refreshing breeze makes everything seem like it is all right. But it isn't. I never will be. It is my cruel destiny. I want to be _normal_ sometimes. No darkness. No keyblade. Just me. I don't even know who I am anymore. Sora helped me, along with Kairi and Namine. Sometimes I wish that Namine would come back, but I know she can't.

I knock at Kairi's door, but no one comes for 5 minutes.

"Hey, Kairi. I hope you're decent, 'cause I am coming in."

I go in, but no one is there. I go to her room, and it looks like a disaster. There are a bunch of doodles everywhere. Like Namine, she enjoys drawing pictures, but there is nothing special about them. They are pictures of common household items. A lamp, chair, a pot of flowers, etc. One of the pictures catches my eye for some reason. It is a picture of the sea shore. I look at it. Just _looking_ at the sea makes me calmer. I turn it over. I don't know why, but it seemed like something I should do. It only has three words on it.

_I'll show them._

I wonder who she is talking about. I put the picture in my pocket and walk out of her house. I was starting to get worried about Kairi. She was really ticked about us yesterday. Wait.

Was she talking about us on the picture?

I feel instantly guilty. I run to Sora's house. I knock the door about 20 times in a row. Sora finally comes out wearing his traveling clothes, which means he looked the same as ever, but he had a more determined look on his face.

He looked a little confused when he saw me. "Riku… What are you doing here? I already said goodbye yesterday."

"That was a goodbye?" I scoffed. "'I don't care what you say. I am leaving tomorrow morning. Alone.' That wasn't much of a goodbye. I actually came to tell you about Kairi."

That got his attention. "K-Kairi? What is wrong with her?"

I rolled my eyes. I liked the kid, but he was so stupid sometimes. "She kind of hates you right now, and now she is missing. I think she wants to prove her worth."

Now he looked agitated. "_Kairi!_ Why did you leave? You are going to get hurt." He suddenly realized I was there, and he shuffled his feet awkwardly. I sighed. I wish that _I_ had been the one to leave, and Kairi was the one that stayed. Now I have to deal with a worried lover.

"It's OK, Sora," I said to him reassuringly. "We just have to look for her. You have already done that a couple of times." He smiled, but his eyes betrayed his real emotions. I could still tell that he was worried.

"Now," I said, "We could stay here standing awkwardly on your porch, _or_ we could get the ship and start looking for her."

"Oh," now he looked _really _awkward, "then let's go and find her! What world do you want to explore first?"

I was about to tell him my thoughts when his computer told him he had a new e-mail.

He sighed. "I guess I will check it before I leave." He went to read the e-mail, and I sat on his couch. Why is furniture from other people's houses much more comfortable than your own?

I sat there for a couple of minutes, and then Sora came in looking like he saw a ghost.

"R-Riku. You have to read this e-mail!" He ran upstairs, and I followed after him.

He was looking intently at his computer, and I went next to him. It said,

_We have Kairi. We might return her if you come to…talk to us._

There was more on the e-mail, but I was too busy looking at the bottom, reading who it was from.

"No…"

**I hope you liked it! Please reply! I am interested to see who everyone thinks the letter is from. My little wolf can't guess. **


	3. Chapter 3

**This story has two points of view in it. It starts with Kairi's P.O.V. and it takes place after their argument. The second part is in Sora's P.O.V. and it takes place after they read the letter.**

I started making my plans to prove my worth on the beach. I don't believe Sora and Riku just _left_ me! They might as well be nobodies, since they don't act like they have a heart. I walked around the shore fuming for five minutes, then I started to calm down. It is hard to be mad when you are by the sea. It is so calming…

_I _was going to go on the quest. I was sick of being left behind. Just because I am a girl doesn't mean I have to be protected. When I find the source of the worlds disappearing, they will _finally_ learn to respect me.

I have been practicing my skills, and I found a really useful one. I could create portals of light! I obviously can't make _dark_ portals because I am a princess of hearts, so I don't have any darkness in my heart, but it is nice to have a form of transportation. I couldn't take the ship, because I have_ no _idea how it works, so my light portal is much more efficient.

I make the portal and decide to go wherever it wants me to go. It doesn't really matter. I just have to go to a world, wait for the bad guy to come, and whack! Bye bye bad guy and hello respect! I was excited by just thinking about it!

I walk in the portal and I am teleported away. I open my eyes and realize that I am at… No, I _can't _be here. It just brings back bad memories.

The Castle That Never Was.

...

"_What?"_ Riku sounded outraged. I pretty much reacted the same way when I read the message.

_We have Kairi. We might return her if you come to…talk to us. We are at The Castle That Never Was, awaiting you, Keyblade Master._

_XII_

They were _dead_. I didn't kill them just for fun, and now they are back? This just sucks. I have had too much hardship from that batch of jerks. They took away Kairi, and now they are doing it again.

Riku had that eerie face on. The one that was really calm, but you knew that he was boiling with rage inside. He was probably thinking about Xemnas. I don't want him to go to the darkness again, and I don't think he wants to either, but he might not have a choice if Xemnas messes with his already-weakened heart. I felt sorry for him. I never had to worry about the darkness that much.

Riku turned towards me. "So," he said, "I guess we have to rescue your girlfriend again. I really thought she had a chance against them this time, but…"

He looked towards me with a look full of pity. I got mad then. I wasn't sad that she was captured. I _told_ her to stay here. If she hadn't gone off, we wouldn't have been in this mess. "Let's just get her back, okay? We don't have a choice."

Riku looked at me surprised. "I thought you liked her. You never hesitated to go after her before."

"Well, I don't really like her," I mumbled.

Riku tilted his head to the side. "What did you say? I didn't really hear you."

"I DON'T LIKE HER! SHE IS JUST A SPOILED BRAT THAT DOESN'T DO WHAT SHE IS TOLD!" I looked away from him so he didn't see the tears I shed after I said that.

Riku sighed. "You don't mean that Sora, you are worried about her because she is more than a friend to you, now."

He was right, but I already said the words, and I wasn't going to take them back. Come to think of it, I am really sick of rescuing her. She should stay safe, and not get into trouble.

I looked towards him after I wiped away my tears. "Fine. Let's go."

**I hope you liked it! It wasn't much of a cliff-hanger, but there were a lot of emotions. Don't worry, though! Relasionships always get better! **


	4. Chapter 4

**This is my next chapter! Thank you for the review everyone! I know there are people out there that are reading this, but they are not replying. *Glare* Like I said before. Just say if you like it or I don't like it. That is all I need. I do not own any of the characters from Kingdom Hearts. The point of view changes again. The first part is in Kairi's P.O.V. after she got to The Castle That Never Was. The second part is in Sora's P.O.V. after Sora and Riku leave to find Kairi. Enjoy!**

I looked up at the castle and I was tempted to go back in the portal and go to another world. Maybe Wonderland? That is much more cheerful than this place. The only problem was that there was a 24 hour wait for using the portal again. I sighed. I might as well go in the castle and see what happened to it. I started walking towards it.

Memories started flowing back to me. The capture, Riku-Ansem, Kingdom Hearts, Namine…

"Hey Namine," I said to myself "Can you see this? Brings back memories…"

_Yeah…_

I almost jumped back in terror. "N-Namine? I didn't know you could talk to me. Why didn't you do it earlier?"

_You never asked me anything. I can only talk when you ask me a question._

"You must be bored. What do you do to pass the time?"

_I look in your memories._

"Stalker! Those are my private memories!"

_ Well I _am_ your nobody, so I should be allowed to look at them. Most nobodies get back the memories of being a somebody. I don't see why you hate Sora right now. Your memories show that you really like him._

My face turned red. "Go back to looking at my memories, stalker, and leave me alone with my thoughts.

_ If that is what you wish…_

I could sense her fading back into me. I sighed with relief. It was kind of weird to be talking with her when she wasn't in a solid form. I finally get to the door to the castle. For some reason I thought that the door should be somewhere else.

"That's a dumb thought." Great, now I am getting used to talking to myself. "There is only one door in this godforsaken castle."

I open the door. Funny, it looks a little different inside the castle, too. I shook my head. I haven't been here in a while, so I probably don't remember what it looks like. But still, I had a bad feeling about this.

...

Riku was driving since he was the oldest. I just sat next to him, thinking about my old adventures with Donald and Goofy, and my fiery passion to rescue Kai-

No. I was not going to think of her. This is just a job I have to do. Nothing more.

Riku looked glum. I probably looked like that to, but I didn't care. But I cared about Riku. He was the only friend I had left.

"So," we both said at the same time. Now this was awkward. I guess I would say something first.

"Do you want to go back to that castle?" Riku just kept looking forward. After a minute he sighed.

"Of course I don't want to go back, Sora. Nobody but Nobodies want to go there."

I smiled at the lame pun. Riku probably wanted to cheer me up. He wasn't doing a good job, but at least he tried. That's more than I can say for _her_.

"Well, here we are," said Riku. "For better or for worse…"

**Hope you liked it! I wrote pretty much everything at the beginning of the story, so I don't have to say anything else. Please review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Now the story starts to get more interesting! I love the organization, so it was really fun writing this. I hope you enjoy it too! I do not own any of the characters from Kingdom Hearts. This is in Kairi's P.O.V.**

I was walking inside the castle. I swear I must have been walking in this place for hours, and the gloomy background of the castle never changed. My legs were starting to get sore, and I decided to forget about my argument with Namine and ask her a question.

"Namine? This place feels really different, and I have a bad feeling about this… Am I doing the right thing?

_Kairi, NO! It's an ambus-_

"I didn't realize she would be this stupid. She is even talking to herself." The voice seemed to be coming out of the wall to the left of me. I backed up, but I almost died of fright when a voice suddenly came from behind me.

"I know my illusions are persuasive, but people usually catch on after an hour…"

A different voice came from in front of me. I stood still in terror as I realized who it was. "Take it down Number 6."

"The voice behind me, Number 6, sighed. "As you wish, Superior."

Suddenly I was in a large circular room. Everything was white, and there were chairs high above me, but only _he_ was sitting. The rest of the organization were on the ground surrounding me. I think I figured out why the worlds are missing! Not that it does me any good, now…

I recognized some of the members. Axel, Luxord, Saix, and _him_. In some distant part of my mind, I knew the pink-haired guy was Marluxia, the creepy guy with the blond hair was Vexen, and the only girl there was Larxene.

"Number 4 and 5," commanded the leader, "do it now."

"I was hoping to have a nice challenge…" Vexen ruefully pointed his arm towards me, and my arms felt like lead instantly. I fell towards the ground, and I realized my arms and legs were encased in ice. I tried moving, but it was too heavy.

"A tall member started walking in my direction. He had brown hair and he was carrying a giant club or something. It looked heavy, and I was surprised that he could carry it. He must be strong. He raised his weapon silently, and brought it charging down.

Then everything went black.

...

I woke up in a white cell and felt a bad sense of déjà vu. I started to raise my head, and I felt like throwing up, so I laid down again. I just had to remember what happened yesterday…

"N-Namine? What happened?"

_ Well, you got ambushed, and after Number 5 knocked you out, they took you to this cell. He hit you pretty hard in the head, so I wouldn't try to get up. _

"Thanks for those words of wisdom," I said sarcastically. But I was secretly happy that she reminded me about what happened yesterday.

"About time you woke up, princess." I looked around and realized I wasn't alone. The guy talking was wearing an eye patch for some reason. Probably because he wanted to draw attention to himself. He was outside of the cell, of course, and looking at me with an evil smile on his face.

"I am your welcoming committee for today! I was posted here since you got zonked out. I should tell Lexeaus to hit our captives a bit lighter. It is kind of boring to sit here for three days."

"Three DAYS?" I was ready to faint again. What will Sora think now? I didn't want to worry him. Oh wait. I don't care about him. But I _do_ care about myself, and I don't want to be stuck here again. I might as well ask him some questions before I escape.

"You are supposed to be dead."

He laughed. "I wasn't expecting you to say that! But I might as well tell you anyway. By the way, I am Xigbar, number 2 in the organization. Do you know what these cloaks are for?"

I hesitated. "Riku said they keep away the darkness. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"Just about everything. The 13 organization members are the only Nobodies that should have a cloak, and they make us… immortal, in a way."

It was weird talking to him lying down, so I sat up. Thankfully, I got only slightly dizzy. "You can be immortal by wearing a cloak?"

"Kind of. If a Nobody dies while wearing the cloak, they will not disappear, but they will be reawakened when they decide."

"Why did you always sound like you were in pain when you died, then?"

He laughed again. This guy was starting to get on my nerves, but I needed to know this information. "You try dying. It is not the best thing ever. Besides, at first, only Xemnas knew about this, so we thought we were actually going to disappear."

"I did too," I mumbled to myself. "By why didn't everyone come back sooner? It has been a year since Xemnas was destroyed."

"We all came back when Xemnas summoned us together shortly after he died. Since then, we have been growing in strength."

I wanted to shout out in annoyance. Like they were easy to beat _before_ becoming stronger. "Why do you want the worlds to disappear anyway?"

"When a world disappears, all of the heartless come to the World That Never Was, and we are hoping to get a keyblade bearer to destroy a couple thousand or so for us, so that we can create Kingdom Hearts once again."

"Didn't that plan fail already? Besides, why do you need hearts? If you die, you can just come back by using the cloak's power."

"The cloaks only work once, and then their power fades away."

"But-"

"I am getting sick of questions. Besides, I have to tell the Superior that you are awake. He will want to talk to you. And before you try it, portals don t work in that cell. We installed that feature after the incident last time." He summoned his portal and disappeared.

I tried to summon my portal, but he was right. Nothing came. I wanted to cry, but I had to stay strong. I had to prepare for my interview with Xemmas…

**That was my longest chapter... I never knew that explanations would be that long! Hope you liked it! Please review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**So here is my next chapter. Action, cliffhangers, and romance once again. Sorry to the romance-haters out there. I don't like it either, but it is essential for the plot. This is in Riku's P.O.V. and takes place after they see the castle. I do not own any of the characters from Kingdom Hearts. Enjoy!**

My eyes felt frozen in place as I saw at the castle. There were so many memories from there. Ansem and Xemnas appearing and fading into oblivion. And me. My old me, the Xehanort form, vanished forever as well. Hopefully.

I was so intent on looking at the castle out of my left hand window that I didn't notice the giant asteroid right in front of the ship. When I noticed it, I tried to avoid it, but it was too big and too close, and the wing on the right side of the ship hit the asteroid.

I cursed loudly. I was usually a better pilot than this! We were quickly losing elevation, and I knew we were going to crash soon.

I turned towards Sora. "Open your door, and when I say, 'now,' jump!"

He looked scared. I was too, but I had to stay strong for him. I looked at the ground rapidly approaching and shouted, "Jump!" Then things happened very quickly.

We jumped out, and the ship exploded on impact. I held up my hand to prevent the debris from hitting my face, but that plan failed. I cried out in pain as small pieces of glass bombarded my hand. I lowered my hand to lessen the pain, but then the debris hit my face. There was pain everywhere, and then darkness.

…...

I woke up in pain. The pain was centered on my forehead, and my head felt like it was going to blow up when I raised my head. I knew I had a head injury, but I could still remember the events from earlier. I have an ability to tell what the time was, no matter where I was, and I estimated that I had been knocked out for a day. Then I remember something else.

"Sora!" I hope he was okay! I don't know what I will do if I found him dead. My head had started to feel better, so I sat up and turned my head to look around.

The ship was destroyed. Bits and pieces were spread out in a 100 yard radius around the main explosion. Seeing it, I was surprised that I was alive. I looked everywhere, but I couldn't see Sora anywhere.

"Sora," I cried out again. There was still no answer, and I laid down in defeat.

"Riku!" I looked to see a surprised looking Sora behind a large piece of metal in front of me. Then he made one of those stupid looking smiles and walked towards me. I wouldn't tell him, but I missed that smile. I smiled back.

I don't know how, but his smile got wider. "About time you got up! When the ship crashed, I ducked behind that piece of metal." He pointed to the metal he emerged from earlier. "I'm glad you got up. That was the longest wait in my life. I was worried about you."

I was so happy to see him, and touched that he worried about me. "I don't know what I would have told Kairi if you had died."

His smile faded instantly. "She doesn't care if I live or die. And vice versa. We aren't even friends anymore. She is just a burden." I groaned inwardly. Why did I even bring up Kairi? He had been happy for the first time on this trip…

"Sorr-"

"Don't apologize for her actions," he said. I felt a bit better when he smiled again. "Besides, I have a surprise for you! I can talk to Roxas!"

My mouth dropped open, but I quickly closed it. "B-but, why haven't you been able to talk to him before?"

"Well, I can only start a conversation with him once I ask him a question directly. I figured this out because I had a lot of time to talk to myself, then eventually to Roxas, since you were taking your nap."

"You know I wasn't taking a nap, Sora!" I glared at him, but for some reason he found that hilarious and he started laughing. I managed to keep my mean face for a second, but then I laughed as well. It was hard not to laugh when Sora did. One of his many abilities.

Eventually we stopped laughing. "Hey Sora," I said. "Are we still on the World That Never Was?"

"Yeah. Do you want to go and explore?"

"Sure Sor-"

"I'm afraid that I can't allow that." I turned around and looked at the person that interrupted me. So it was true. They were back from the dead, and they had a goal.

Revenge.

**Cliffhangers are fun! And there are even worse ones up ahead... I hoped you enjoyed it, and once again. Please review! I am a first-time fanfiction writer, and I would greatly appreciate the help!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Here is the next chapter! I would like to thank Justice333, The Dark Door, BlackWolfe, and guest for their replys! I hope you like this chapter! This takes place after Kairi heard that Xemnas was going to ask her some questions, and it is in Kairi's P.O.V. I do not own any of the characters in Kingdom Hearts.**

The only thing that kept me going in that stupid cell was Namine. I was fine with talking to her as long as she didn't talk about Sora.

_ So what is your escape plan?_

"Well…" I thought for a bit. I wish she could just read my mind, because it would be easier and less awkward. "I can't use my portal or summon my keyblade." I tried to earlier, but it didn't come. I hope I can still use it when I get out of here. Which I _will_. "Unfortunately, the only way I can get out of here is if someone rescues me."

_ Like Sora?_

I wish I could punch her, but I would have to hit myself, and I am not sure if she would even feel it. "Don't. Talk. About. Him. I was thinking about Riku. He actually cares about me." I secretly wanted Sora to rescue me and apologize, and I was glad that Namine couldn't read my mind at that moment.

She hesitated before she replied. _So you aren't going to do anything?_

I was tempted to see if she could feel pain, but I don't want to have cuts and bruises when Riku rescues me. "I have tried everything I can. This cell doesn't let me do anything. Maybe if Xigbar came back I could do something…"

I almost jumped out of my skin when Xigbar came out of a dark portal, but I changed my expression so that I appeared calm.

"Geez. Did you have to say my name at that exact moment? I had almost destroyed that heartless…"

"What is the point of destroying a heartless if you don't get the hearts? And did I summon you by saying your name?"

"So many questions." He did that creepy smile again. I couldn't help myself. I shivered. Why couldn't I have a different 'welcoming crew?' Maybe that small, dark-blue haired guy? "The heartless that I was fighting was the guardian of the world I was on. If I had defeated it, the world would have disappeared, and the heartless would have come here."

"That's _terrible_. Making the worlds disappear…"

He shrugged. "I have already defeated two guardian heartless. It's not that hard. And to answer your other question, my portal was programmed to transport me to you say my name. Just in case you need anything."

"I have another question-"

"Really?" His voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Haven't I told answered enough of your questions?"

I bit my lip. This guy was getting more and more on my nerves. "Didn't you say that Xemnas wanted to ask me questions?"

"Yeah. He has been busy, but he should be coming here sometime today. He has been taking care of those intruders."

"Intruders?" My heart started pounding faster.

"Yeah. Sora and Riku."

Sora… "Riku is here?" I hoped that I sounded like I was excited to see him.

"Yeah. But I thought that you cared about Sora?"

"I don't care about him."

He laughed. "Sure you don't! I don't see why people fall in love. It is more trouble than it's worth. I will _not_ fall in love when I get I heart."

"Love _is_ stupid," I muttered. I didn't want to agree with him, but he was right. I don't think I will ever love again if I can't have Sor- I mean Riku.

"Now, if you don't need anything, I am going to go and finish that guardian before it fades." He summoned his portal and disappeared.

I was about to sit back and talk to Namine and give her a scolding, but then another portal appeared.

"Hello, Kairi…"

**About time he came! Next chapter is back to Sora and Riku! Please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Here is chapter 8! I feel so loved with all of these views:) But I am sad that people are still not reviewing... I do not own any of the characters in Kingdom Hearts. This is in Sora's P.O.V. and it takes place after Riku and Sora hear a person behind them. Enjoy!**

"Who are you?" I felt like I should know him. It was in some weird, foggy part of my mind.

The stranger laughed. "I am Vexen. Number 4 in the organization. I would have thought that you would have remembered me, keyblade master." He made a mocking bow towards me.

"You did something evil. To…Riku?" I don't believe I was suddenly remembering all of this. Riku was facing away from me, so I couldn't see his reaction.

"Yes, I did, in a way. But that is a story for another time. Maybe your friend could tell you about it?"

"What do you want?" I was surprised to see Riku talking.

"But I want to know-"

"No," Riku said. "You don't want to know." He turned toward Vexen again. "What do you want?"

"I want you to come with me to our castle," said Vexen. Somehow I knew that going with him was a bad idea. "Willingly, or unwillingly."

I was about to answer, but Riku beat me to it. "We choose unwillingly." He got out his keyblade. I quickly did the same.

"_Now,_ this is going to be fun!" Vexen held out his arm and shards of sharp ice hurled towards us. There was no way to dodge it, and I turned around and closed my eyes, hoping that it wouldn't hurt that much.

I waited, but the impact never came. Instead, I saw Riku in front of me covered with bits of ice. He had his eyes closed, and I knew that he couldn't help me anymore in this battle. I just hoped Vexen didn't do that again.

I charged towards him with renewed energy. He sent an icicle hurling towards me, but I jumped and used the icicle for extra leverage. I was right above Vexen, now, and I dove towards him. He moved to the side and put a patch of ice where I was about to land.

I landed and with a roll so do minimize the impact and avoid the patch of ice. I got up and sent fire towards him. He countered it with a wall of ice. The wall was thick, and the fire only went halfway through it. Vexen made the wall come charging at me, and I sent another blast of fire in the already weakened spot on the wall. I jumped into the hole caused by the fire.

Vexen was caught unprepared, and I was about to finish him with an overhand hit from my keyblade, but he deflected it with his shield that he summoned in less than a second. I continued to batter the shield with the keyblade so that he got used to me hitting there. Then I hit him with the keyblade on his right side.

He screamed with pain and the shield disappeared. He fell on the ground and I raised my keyblade to finish him. Hopefully. He had already come back from the dead. But Vexen help up his hands and shouted.

"Stop! If you spare my life, I will give you a gift… One that you and Roxas will enjoy."

I stopped. I was a thoughtful person, and I decided that I would at least tell me what the gift was. "What is it?" I hoped that I didn't sound too curious.

He lowered his hands and relaxed a little. "I have a machine that can separate you and Roxas."

"Let me talk to Roxas a moment. Hey Roxas. What do you think?" I asked him that softly so Vexen couldn't hear.

_I don't know. It might be a trap. But we should still see what it is, and how it works._

I figured that was safe logic. "We want to see it first."

He looked relieved. "I will show it to you and allow you to use it, and I will also not harm you in the process. But you can't destroy me."

Well, _duh,_ I thought to myself. "It's a deal."

He smiled. "Unfortunately, it happens to be in my lab located inside the castle. But I will ask Xemnas not to have you destroyed." He opened his dark portal. "Follow me."

I grabbed Riku and went into his portal. We couldn't get there any other way, but I was worried about Riku going into the darkness again.

It seemed like minutes, but we finally got out of the portal. I looked around and hoped that I would see a lab, but it wasn't.

We were surrounded by the organization. Since when have they worked together? I should have known that Vexen was lying.

Xemnas stepped forward. "I suggest you surrender if you want Kairi to survive…"

**That was so fun to write! That was my first fight scene that I have ever wrote! I hope you liked it too! Please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**For all of you Axel fans, here it is! A chapter with Axel doing something! I had to put him in at the right time, but now the wait is over! I do not own any of the characters from Kingdom Hearts. It is in Kairi's P.O.V. and it is after Xemnas comes. I hope you enjoy it!**

I looked up and saw those eyes. Those lifeless, heartless golden eyes. I guess he came today after all. Lucky me.

"Are you comfortable?" How thoughtful of him. I couldn't tell if he was sarcastic or not.

"Not really. Xigbar said that you were going to ask me questions, but I thought that they were supposed to be helpful for you."

He smiled. Did all of the members in the organization have a creepy smile? "Of course, I have other questions for you, but I thought that I should be polite."

"How nice of you. So what are your other questions?"

"You are certainly to the point. Don't you want to know what happened to our intruders?"

"What did you do to them? Are they safe?" I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of keeping information from me and only giving me bits and pieces, but I had to know!

He smiled. I groaned inwardly. _Great. I _pleased_ the jerk. _"They are safe as long as you answer my one question."

I rolled my eyes. This guy was trying to make me feel stressed. How dumb was that? The bad thing, though, was that it was working. I was just_ trying_ to act calm. "What is the fucking question?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. It's not nice to swear." I wanted to strangle him, but there those stupid bars between us. "But since you want to know so much, I will ask you my question. What is Sora's weakness?"

I scoffed. Like I would tell him my boy- Wait a second. He wasn't my friend anymore! I could get some revenge! "He is too considerate," I told him. For some reason, I felt guilty that I said it.

"We have already figured that out. I am asking what Sora is afraid of."

Seeing his friends suffer. But I couldn't say that, because then they would hurt Riku! I didn't reply to his question.

Xemnas finally broke the silence. "If you do not answer me, then they will both suffer. If you _do_ answer, we will allow you and Riku to leave."

Yeah right. And then we would both be captured again! And if I did answer truthfully, Riku wouldn't be allowed to leave anyway!

More silence. I could sense that Xemnas was starting to get irritated. _Welcome to my world, Xemnas._ "Fine. We can do this the hard way. A portal appeared and Axel came walking out of it with a very scared looking Sora. I looked at Sora, and I saw that his hands were tied behind his back, but I looked away when I realized that I didn't care about him. I looked at Axel instead.

Axel was such a confusing Nobody. He was nice, but then he turned evil in a blink of an eye. He said that he did everything that he could in order to protect Roxas, but sometimes his means were not well thought out. Or too thought out. I tried to figure out what he was thinking, but his face was set into a calm expression.

Xemnas took out some keys and unlocked the cage. I started to run at Sora, but he kept a firm hold on me. I guess that he wanted to get close and personal. "Do it, Axel," Xemnas commanded.

Axel hesitated. "Are you sure that you do not want to question her more before we do this?"

Xemnas glared at him. I felt sorry for him for a second, but that was it. "If you want to prove your worth, you_ will_ do it, and you will do it well."

_Prove your worth._ For once I knew what he was thinking, and I knew he would do _it._ Whatever it was. Axel tried, but I could tell that he looked sad, but then he fixed his expression. "Fine," he spat, and he held out his hand.

Then my secret love caught on fire.

**Dun dun dun... I told you that there would be bad cliff hangers! Please do not despair Axel fans! Just wait for the next chapter with Kairi! You will see! Hope you liked it! Please remember to reply!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I am so happy with all the reviews! Thank you everyone who takes the time to do it. If you haven't reviewed yet, consider doing it now. It _is_ chapter 10. Think about it... I do not own any of the characters from Kingdom Hearts. This starts in Sora's P.O.V. after he is ambused, and switches to Riku's P.O.V. in the middle. Enjoy!**

I looked at Vexen and glared at him. "You told us that we would be safe!" I was mostly mad at myself, though. I should have expected this from him!

He smiled. "Did you _really_ think that I would have gone against the organization? The people that oppose us suffer for it."

"Not really. But I would have thought that you would have done it another way." I turned towards Xemnas. "Your entire organization is made of cowards! You should fight fair, at least! It is not fair that you are outnumbering me 12 to one!"

My remark caused the organization members to grow angry. The girl stormed forward, literally. She was encased in lightning, but the pink haired guy grabbed her and reluctantly held her back. Xemnas glared at me. "Fine. Don't surrender and suffer instead! I will allow you to fight one on one, since I am such a_ kind hearted_ person. Number 6. You know what to do."

A short, dark-blue haired guy stepped forward. I smiled. This was too easy. The only weapon he had was a _book. _I gently set down Riku and I summoned my keyblade. "I will defeat _all_ of you. One by one."

Xemnas smiled. "If you think so. Now, begin!"

I charged towards him, and he didn't even move! I swung up my keyblade to finish him off quickly, but then I saw that I was actually attacking Riku! I turned around to see if Riku was still where I put him down. He was still there! So that means…

My thought was cut off as the fake Riku hit me on the back of my head.

It hurt so much, then the pain lessened, and I could tell that I was losing conciseness. "Riku…" That was the last thing I was able to say before my world disappeared.

…

I woke up feeling groggy. It took me a while to remember what had happened. Then I remembered. I don't believe that I had fainted _again_. How many more times would I faint before the end of this story?

"Sora," I said weakly.

"Whatisit?" I was relieved to hear him next to me, but my heart sank when I saw where we were.

We were in a white cage. I tried to summon my keyblade to break the bars, but it didn't come. I sighed. "Where are we?"

Sora opened his mouth to answer, but then a dark portal appeared outside of the cage, and a guy with black dreadlocks appeared. "You are in a cell located in the World That Never Was," he said, "and I am here to escort you to our lab."

I opened my mouth to make a sharp retort, but he quickly summoned his lances and pointed one of them towards me. "No talking," he said. "Now turn around and put your hands behind your back."

I turned around since I didn't want to become I human pin cushion. He opened the cell while continuing to point his lance at me. He pulled a rope out of his cloak and tied me up, then Sora. I felt so _useless._ I wanted to send him to the World of Darkness, but I had to wait. He summoned his portal and shoved us in before we could summon our keyblades.

While we were in the portal, I estimated that I had been unconscious for two days. Long time.

We finally got out, and I immediately tried to summon my keyblade, but I failed. I could tell that Sora had tried too, because he was looking _very_ annoyed. I looked around and saw that we were in a lab. There were two metal chairs toward the right, and there as a long table in the middle with various…science things on it. Vexen was there being Mr. Creeper with that smile. He was right next to the chairs. He gestured towards the two chairs.

"Sit," he said to us. "And Xaldin, go and get Marluxia. You don't have to come back."

He shrugged. "Whatever, Number_ 4_." He summoned his portal and left. Sora and I sat on the chairs and waited. Vexen turned around and started messing with the stuff on the table and muttered to himself. I shifted and tried to make myself more comfortable, but it wasn't possible. It was _extremely_ uncomfortable to sit with my arms behind my back. I looked at Sora reassuringly, and he grinned back, but I could tell that he was still worried.

A minute later Marluxia appeared. He had pink hair, and I wanted to gag. Pink was _not_ a good hair color for guys. He looked at Vexen. "You called?"

Vexen turned around and pointed at us. "Could you bind them? Then you can go."

Marluxia grinned at Sora. "My pleasure." He held out his hand and we were quickly tied up with _rose stems_. I bit my lip. The thorns were digging into every part of me, and it hurt like hell, but I was _not_ going to sound weak.

Sora cried out and I looked at him. I winced when I saw him. He had twice as many bindings as I did, and they were twice as tight. I could see blood running down his arms and legs. I glared at Marluxia. He grinned back, and then left. Jerk.

Vexen looked at Sora. "I thought that I would try out my invention on you after all. I will try not to hurt you _that_ much." He smiled and picked up his invention. It looked like a gun, but it was wider.

He pointed it towards Sora, and he was instantly encased in darkness. He screamed. It was the most blood chilling sound that I had ever heard, but I was more concerned when he stopped. When the darkness disappeared from around him after a minute, it gathered on the ground and _formed_ something. I gasped when I saw what it was.

It was _Roxas._

**Go Roxas! Please review! I hope you enjoyed it! I know I am just killing you with all of these cliff hangers! Stay tuned! The next one is with Kairi again!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Back to the intence scene:) I won't make the beginning long, because I know that you are dying to read it. I do not own the characters from Kingdom Hearts. This is in Kairi's P.O.V. after she sees Sora catch on fire.**

Sora's screams brought chills down my spine. He looked that he was in unspeakable pain. I stood there stupidly for a couple of seconds, and then I came back to my senses. I pushed away Xemnas with a newfound strength, and I ran towards him, forgetting about my hate for him. I held out my arms and ran into the fire.

My first feeling was pain. Terrible pain. I wanted to run back to safety, but I _was_ going to rescue Sora. He could _not_ die in front of me! I couldn't live with myself if I did nothing to save him.

Xemnas yelled at Axel, but I could barely hear it. "Stop the fire! We need her alive!"

Axel shouted back to him. "I can't! The flames have ten seconds until I can put them out."

"We don't _have_ ten seconds!" There was more to the conversation, but I couldn't hear it. I ignored the pain and looked at Sora. I couldn't see his blue eyes because they were closed in pain. I could smell gasoline on him, and I knew that he would die, but I had to try to save him! I held out my arm to grasp him, and my arm went right through him.

I was emotionless. I guess that this is the end. I sat down in the fire awaiting my fate. _Forgive me, Sora. Wherever you are._ I looked at the flames and smiled. I never noticed that fire was so beautiful…

…...

I woke up and saw Vexen's face. I almost fainted again, but then I saw Sora out of the corner of my eye. I looked at him, but he didn't move. Vexen stood up.

"You still have some nasty burns," said Vexen. "That was stupid of you to jump into that fire. You are going to have some nasty scars."

I was still looking at Sora. "What is wrong with him?" I barely managed to say that. My throat tasted like ash.

He smiled and backed away. I looked around and realized that I was in the same room as before, but not in the cage. The dark-blue haired guy and Axel were there. I guess that Xemnas had more important things to do. Axel was looking guilty and facing away from me. The short guy was looking at me along with Vexen.

"Well, Sora is fine, somewhat. He is recovering, but not from the fire. The Sora that you saw in the fire was an illusion that was made by Number 6."

"Zexion," said Number 6. "That's my name. We didn't think that you would run into the fire. We just wanted to know Sora's weakness." He turned around. "If I am no longer needed, I will be going." He summoned his portal and disappeared. The illusion of Sora also faded.

Vexen turned towards Axel. "Put her back in the cell. Or else." Axel flinched. I assumed that he had already been punished for setting me on fire. Vexen summoned his portal and left.

Axel stood there for a minute, and then he looked towards me. He didn't try to hide his expression. He was in despair. "Well. What am I going to do with you?" I was speechless. He turned away and continued to talk.

"I will disappear if I go against the organization, again, but I won't be able to live with myself if you stayed in this cell." He turned towards me. "Why did you jump into the fire? I don't understand it."

I don't believe it. He was begging me to tell him. I know Axel liked Sora, but he never grew attached to me, I think. I was about to lie to him, but I couldn't. He was too sad. He needed the truth, even if it hurt me.

"Love."

He sighed. "I should have known. You know, I respect you for running into that fire." He sighed again. "I guess I will have to do this…" He summoned his portal and grinned. "After you."

I stood there for a second. "What about Sora? We have to get him."

Axel's grin faded and he looked away. "He is being closely watched by Xemnas. We can't defeat him yet. Besides, he is not rescueable at the moment."

"What do you mean, and if I go with you, where would we go?"

"I will explain on the way, but we don't have much time. Go in the portal."

"A please would be nice," I muttered. I thought about leaving him and using my portal instead in order to rescue Sora, but I couldn't leave him. Axel needed me right now, and Sora was not being hurt at the moment.

"I will return for you, Sora," I whispered. I went into the portal. "I promise."

**Kairi is finally learning to forgive him... But it will still take time. I hope you liked this chapter! I loved it because Zexion was in it XP Please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Roxas is back! Yay! I think everyone agrees that Roxas is awesome, right? Anyway, this takes place after Riku sees Roxas appear and it is in Riku's P.O.V. BTW, I do not own the characters in Kingdom Hearts. I hate disclaimers... so annoying. Enjoy!**

I continued to look at Roxas. I was surprised to see that he was wearing an organization cloak. How was he here? I thought that Vexen would kill Sora with that gun, but instead he created _him_. I wasn't sure if Roxas would be good or evil, so I looked at him warily. After a minute, he stirred.

"Wh-where am I? Roxas sounded so confused. Vexen made a huge smie.

"You are home, Roxas. You don't want to keep Saix waiting. You should see what you have to do today."

"Of course, Vexen." He summoned his portal and left. I looked at Vexen in confusion.

"Why do you need Roxas? I thought you wanted Sora."

Vexen was still smiling. "The more the better. Roxas has forgotten everything that has happened outside of the organization, and he wants to work for us as much as he can. He will be very useful for our plan."

"What plan?" I was getting more and more confused.

"A plan." Vexen took a knife off of his table and cut the rose stems off of Sora. He didn't wake up. Vexen tied him to the chair with a rope. It looked weak, but Sora wasn't going to be putting up a fight for a while.

He turned towards me. "Now what to do with you? We can use Sora because we have Roxas, but you have no desire to work for us." He smied. "We have to change that. For now you can enjoy the roses." He summoned his portal and left.

_Finally. I thought that the guy would never leave._ I summoned my keyblade. I slowly cut the stems around me. I winced every once in a while when the thorns dug into me, but I finally got the stems off. I cut the rope on my arms, and I examined myself. I had a lot of cuts on me, and some were bleeding, but it was nothing that serious.

I went over to Sora and cut the few bindings that he had. Unlike me, he had some _very_ serious cuts. I saw a sink with some paper towels on the side of the room. I went over and I put some water on the paper towels. I wiped up the blood from the cuts on Sora. I hated blood. You didn't get blood when you are hit with a keyblade.

Once I was done with him, it took a minute to clean myself up. I looked at Sora. He was still unconscious. I was worried about him. He had lost a lot of blood. I had to get him out of here.

I looked around. There wasn't a door in sight. Not even a window. The only way to get out of here was by a portal. I sighed. The only bad thing about letting go of the darkness was that I couldn't have a portal anymore. I looked at Sora. He needed medical attention, and soon.

A portal appeared out of nowhere. I looked warily towards it. Surprisingly, Kairi came out, followed by Axel.

"Riku!" She smiled. It has been so long since I had seen her smile. But then she looked over at Sora.

"No… What happened?" She looked at me. Her eyes looked like she could feel his pain.

"Marluxia tied us up with rose stems. Sora's bindings were a lot worse than mine." I lifted up my arms. With the blood gone, all that was visible on my arm were little indents.

Axel sighed. "He probably wanted revenge. Sora did kill him, after all."

I looked at Axel. "How did he do that?"

"Two words. Castle Oblivion." He told us what had happened to Sora there. I was interested. I had not seen him when I was there, and I had always wondered what had happened.

"So Vexen and Larxene probably hate him too, "said Kairi. "Sometimes it's bad to make enemies out of powerful people." She looked towards me. "But what about you? You were there too, but Axel didn't mention you, other than the Riku Replica. What were you doing?"

I sighed. I guess I have to tell them, even though I would rather not. I told them everything. Ansem, the King, and everything else. When I was done I looked away.

"I didn't want to tell you, because I hated fighting the darkness. That was the hardest time that I have ever had. I was ashamed that I could barely hold off Ansem."

Kairi put her hand on my shoulder. "It's okay. We all fear the darkness. It is strong, and it puts up a good fight, but we will always beat it somehow. I can't connect to your feelings with Ansem, but he is gone now. You don't have to worry about him anymore."

I looked towards her. "I can't forget that time when he overcame me. It will haunt me forever, and there is nothing that I can do to stop it. He changed me."

She hugged me. It was so nice. So calming. We held each other for a bit, but then I backed up. "Thank you," I said. "You help take away the memories."

"Me and Namine." She smiled. "You can always talk to me. I know that we will never be more than best friends, but it is okay to talk. You don't have to feel like you are doing something wrong."

"Does that mean that you forgive Sora?"

She turned away. "I don't know. Our relationship is very confusing right now. I don't know if he likes me or not."  
Ugh. More lovesickness. Axel coughed. I forgot that he was there.

"So, we have to take Sora to get some medical treatment."

Kairi looked at him. "I can do that. I learned some medical stuff when I was younger. My grandmother was a nurse." She looked at Sora. She got some supplies off of the lab table and started working.

"So, did you come to rescue me?" I directed the question to Axel.

"Yeah. Kairi and I escaped a while ago, but she kept pestering me to go and get you two. Eventually, I caved in. The only problem is that I can only have three people in a portal. So we might have to leave someone behind…" He glanced at Sora.

Kairi stood up. "No. No one is going to stay here. I can use my portal."

I looked at her in astonishment. Since when has she been able to do that? Kairi put the supplies back on the table. "I have done what I can for Sora. He has to fight this battle alone." She looked at Axel. "Where do you want to go?"

He hesitated. "Twilight Town."

"That is an obvious place to go. We are trying to hide from the organization," I said.

"It is a good place for Sora to recover." He summoned his portal.

Kairi summoned hers as well. It was a white color instead of black. She went into the portal and left. The portal disappeared. I put Sora on my back and went into Axel's portal. Axel followed close behind.

We got out of the portal after a minute. I liked Twilight Town. It was peaceful and quiet. We were on top of a clock tower. Axel sat down. I leaned Sora on the main building and joined him.

We waited for a minute, and then Kairi's appeared. She came up the stairs holding some light blue ice cream. I didn't know that there were stairs. "Sorry I am late. I made a quick stop." She held out her ice cream and we all took one. It was really good. I savored the flavor for a short five minutes, and then I turned towards Axel. He was already done with his ice cream, and he was watching the sunset. I looked at Sora.

"We should take Sora to the mansion," I suggested. Axel looked towards him and stood up.

"You will have to take two trips, Axel," said Kairi. "I have to wait 24 hours before I can use my portal again."

"I will stay behind," I volunteered. Axel nodded. He summoned his portal. While he was picking up Sora, Kairi went into the portal. He followed her quickly.

I looked at the sunset. It was so beautiful. I never got the chance to look at the beauty of the worlds. After a minute, Axel came back.

"I thought you left me," I said. He smiled.

"I will if you don't get in the portal soon." I walked into it. Axel came last. Again.

When we got out, Kairi was staring at something to her right. Axel and I looked over.

Axel gasped. "Is it really you, Roxas?"

**Of course this isn't a cliff hanger for you, but think about what Axel is feeling. It is a cliff hanger for him, so it counts! Sorry that not much really happened that was exciting... but there will be more excitment in the next one! Remember to review!**


	13. Chapter 13

**This is the beginning of the end... Thank you everyone for your devotion to this story! I don't believe it is almost over...*Sniffle* I do not own any of the characters in Kingdom Hearts. This takes place after Axel sees Roxas and it is in Riku's P.O.V. Enjoy!**

Oops. We were so busy talking about the past, and I didn't even tell Axel about his best friend!

"Uh, Axel? There is something that I have to tell you about him…"

Axel wasn't even paying attention to me. He was too busy looking at Roxas. Even _Kairi_ wasn't listening to me! And of course Sora wasn't… Roxas was fighting this ultra-scary heartless. It was kind of like a lizard, but it was much bigger. It was black with red streaks splattered onto it. I could only see it sometimes, because it kept turning invisible.

Roxas was _awesome_. He could just sense where the heartless was without seeing him. He kept using combos and everything. He was just as strong, or probably, stronger than when I fought him, and he had a lot of determination, so that was helping. The lizard thing didn't have a chance. After a minute, Roxas dealt him the killing blow into its heart, if it even had one.

The heartless roared in fury. It was finished, but it could still do one last move. Roxas turned around, and it swung at him with his tail. Roxas was hit in the head, and he slumped to the ground.

"ROXAS!" Axel ran towards him. He knelt next to him and kept saying his name. Kairi was looking like she was going to faint. She had been crammed with a lot of powerful information today, so it wasn't surprising that she wanted to faint.

I looked at the heartless. It had faded, but now there was a dark pit in its place. It was slowly causing a whirlpool and drawing everything in Twilight Town towards it, including us.

Axel looked up and noticed it. He summoned his portal and looked at us. "You three go in the portal and get out of here!"

Kairi looked at him. "We are not leaving you, Axel!"

Axel glared at us. "You can and you will. I am not leaving Roxas. This portal will take us back to The Castle That Never Was, so we will be safe, and you need to get out of here so that you can protect Sora!"

I pulled at Kairi's arm. "Let's go. He will be fine. Think of Sora." But I knew Axel wasn't going to be fine. He was going to be obliterated, and we all knew it.

Kairi tore from my grasp and hugged Axel. "Thank you. For everything."

Axel looked at her. "Thank you as well. Your light is amazing, Kairi. Protect it, and use it to keep your loved ones safe."

Kairi wiped a tear from her eye, and then she went into the portal without looking back. I put Sora on my back and looked at Axel. He was smiling grimly.

"She's a great person, but she is confused. Help her through this. Love is a hard thing. Got it memorized?"

I smiled. "Since when have you known anything about love?"

He shrugged. "It just felt like something I should say."

I looked at him, and then I turned to Roxas. "Well, take care of him, too. Unfortunately, he won't remember you being friends, but you might be able to help him get his memories back. Got it memorized?"

He grinned a bit wider. "That's my line. Now go before the portal fades."

I took one last look at him, and then I turned and went into the portal. I didn't look back.

In the portal, Kairi was still crying. I looked away. I couldn't help her with this. She had to get through it on her own. But I don't believe Axel sacrificed himself for us! I barely knew him. But I think he did it for Roxas. He was probably very lonely without him. And he was the only one that could make Roxas' memories return if they survived.

My thoughts were distracted as Sora stirred. I laid him down gently. He opened his eyes.

"Wh-where are we, Riku?"

I looked at the light coming through. "We are in a portal, and we about to arrive at our destination."

"Where will that be?"

I looked again and shuddered. We had arrived. "Apparently it is Castle Oblivion."

**Good ol' Castle Oblivion! I was so sad writing the part where everyone said their goodbyes... Next up is a P.O.V. that is interesting... Make sure to review!**


	14. Chapter 14

**This was another fun scene to write. I hope you like it! I do not own any of the characters in Kindom Hearts. This is in... AXEL'S P.O.V! Have fun reading it!**

It was nice to see Roxas again, although I wish that it wasn't with these circumstances. He knew that I was a companion since I was in the organization, but he had forgotten that we were friends.

We were still in the vortex. I knew that we would arrive at The Castle That Never Was soon, but I wasn't planning on staying. I was still sad when I left Riku, Kairi, and Sora, though. It was weird that I had feeling, since I was a Nobody, but I did. My plan was to stay with Roxas so that I could help him regain his memories. That might take a while, though, so I would probably not see them for a bit.

I looked at Roxas. He was calmer than he was before. He had looked _evil_ when he was fighting that guardian heartless. I _never_ want to see him look like that again. A light appeared and I looked up.

We were at the castle. There were heartless surrounding us. I couldn't fight all of them with Roxas, so I summoned a portal and went in carrying Roxas.

In the portal, I thought about where to go. We couldn't go to The Castle That Never Was, Castle Oblivion, or Twilight Town. Then I thought of a place.

We came out of the portal. Unfortunately, several heartless came out as well. They would be easy to beat, but I didn't want them hurting Roxas. I made a wall of fire around Roxas and I, and then I set him down. I summoned my chakrams, and then I walked outside of the wall of fire. There were about 25 neoshadows. _Piece of cake_. I set my chakrams on fire and sent them in opposite directions. I quickly jumped up before they attacked and shot fire at the ground for extra leverage and damage. I shot more and more fire at the neoshadows as I came down. By the time I had touched the ground, my chakrams had come back. They worked like boomerangs, so they always came back. I caught them, and they were still on fire, but that didn't hurt me. I was resistant to fire. There were still about ten neoshadows left, so I tried the direct approach. I used both of my chakrams and slashed to the left and right of me. I kept tuning so that I could also hit the ones behind me and in front of me. It was easier to fight them from a distance, but it was more fun to attack them directly. After a minute, they were gone.

I made the chakrams disappear along with the wall of fire and headed over to Roxas.

Roxas was waking up. I guess that it was from the heat and noise. His eyes flickered, and I saw a brief flicker of recognition, but then it faded. He sat up.

"So what do we have to do today, Axel?" He had a look of fierce determination. I shivered.

"Saix told us to rest today," I said. Hopefully he believed me.

Roxas tilted his head. "So it is a day off?"

"Yeah. I thought that you would enjoy coming here." I gestured for him to look around.

It _was_ very beautiful, here. Here on Destiny Islands. We were on a little island away from the mainland. It had a few trees and it also had a bridge to connect it to the main island.

"The sea is calming," said Roxas. He said it in a monotone voice, but at least he was thinking about something other than orders.

"It is." I sat down on one of the tree branches. Roxas sat next to me. For some reason, I thought that there should be someone else there, but I brushed the thought aside.

Roxas looked at me. "Are we going to sit here all day? We should use this time to practice." He jumped off the branch. I sighed. I liked it better when he thought for himself. He summoned his keyblade and practiced on a nearby tree. He kept slashing, and slashing, and finally the tree fell down. He still hit it, though. Slashing, and slashing…

I held out my hand and the tree caught on fire. Roxas stepped back and looked at me in confusion. I grinned a false grin. "Oops. Guess you can't practice anymore. You should sit down." I gestured to the seat next to me.

He obediently hopped on, but he kept his keyblade out. I kept my grin, but it was hard. He looked at me oddly. "Why are you grinning?"

My grin faded. "No reason." I guess restoring his memories would be harder than I thought. I looked forward.

"Hmm," said Roxas. I looked towards him. "I keep thinking about this brown haired guy. I don't even know his name. Isn't that weird?"

"Not really," I said. "His name is Sora."

"Why isn't it weird that I think of the gu- Sora?"

"Well…" I thought of how I wanted to word this. I didn't want to stuff him with information. "You met him a few years ago. You remember him because he kind of looks like you."

"Really?" He frowned. "I feel like he is more important than that." He glared at me and tightened his grip on his keyblade. "You were _lying_ to me. Tell me the truth. I have all of these memories in me that don't belong. Tell me what they mean!"

I sighed. I had a long story to tell. "Well, there were these three kids that lived on this island. Their names were Riku, Sora, and Kairi…"

**I feel sorry for Axel. Have _you_ ever tried to explain the entire Kingdom Hearts series? Not fun. Anyway, sorry Roxas is all robotic, but he gets better! Make sure to review!**


	15. Chapter 15

**It is Castle Oblivion again! Come to haunt your dreams. ooooooo. And of course intense things are going to happen! I have declared that there will be 18 chapters in this fanfiction, and there will be a sequal. I do not own any of the characters in Kingdom Hearts. This is in Sora's P.O.V after they arrive at Castle Oblivion! ooooooo. **

I was so confused. Why were we at Castle Oblivion and why was Kairi so sad? Riku was looking like he had seen a ghost. I looked at him. "How are we here? How did we escape? How did-"

"Whoa. Only two questions at a time!" Riku was smiling at me. I smiled back. It was nice that he was looking better. "I will just tell you the whole story that happened after you fainted."

He began. I didn't interrupt, but at the end of the story my mouth was hanging open. "So let me get this straight. Roxas is back, and Axel saved us, but sacrificed himself?"

"Yeah," said Riku. He looked towards the castle. So what do we do know? Do you have suggestions Kairi?"

"I can't use my portal on all three of us, so that is out of the question. Hey Namine. Got any ideas?"

She was quiet for a minute. I guess she could talk to Namine like I could talk to Roxas. She kept nodding her head. "True…but isn't it dangerous? ...Alright. If you say so." She looked towards us again. "She says that we should go to the top of Castle Oblivion. She claims that it will be safer there, and we might also be able to teleport once we get there."

Riku nodded. "I was thinking about doing that anyway, but it is an added bonus if we could use a portal. I don't want to stay on this world."

"Then let's go!" I grinned at them. "And I could tell you what happened when you fainted."

"Okay," said Riku. "It would be good for everyone to know everything. And going to the top would give us time to make plans to take out the organization." He walked towards the castle. Kairi and I walked side by side behind him. Kairi kept looking at me like she wanted me to say something. I looked at her. "What do you want me to say, Kairi? I know you want me to say something."

She looked crestfallen. Was it something I said? She looked away. "You don't need to say anything," she said. She sped up and walked next to Riku. He put an arm around her.

I looked at them oddly. What had happened when I was gone? I felt like they weren't telling me the whole story, but I didn't really care. As long as they seemed alright. Riku opened the door to the castle and started walking up the stairs. The door closed behind me. Weird. That seemed really familiar. "Well," I said. "I guess I should tell you what happened while Riku was unconscious."

I told them about the encounter with Vexen, and then the ambush. Riku nodded. Riku and Kairi were still looking straight ahead, holding each other. Riku nodded. That explains a lot. I don't believe that you trusted him, though."

He seemed sterner than usual. "I asked Roxas. He said that he was interested."

"Well, that is a good reason." He ended the conversation. Geez. I just woke up, and no one is even talking to me! This was so _boring._ I wish that Donald and Goofy were here. They always talk.

These stairs were getting on my nerves. We must have walked up a million flights of them, and everything looked the same. White. _Boring_. Riku and Kairi _still _weren't talking to me. I sighed.

"Here we are," said Kairi. She didn't sound enthusiastic, but everyone was gloomy anyway. Riku and Kairi turned towards me. Thankfully, they separated. I was starting to get annoyed with them holding each other.

"So how does the portal work?" Riku looked at Kairi.

We have to all join our power together with our keyblades. We have all used a portal in a weird way. Riku used it when he had darkness inside him." Riku flinched. She continued speaking without noticing. "Sora and I have sort of used it since we have Namine and Roxas inside us."

"Umm. We have a problem," I said. "Roxas isn't inside me anymore. He is with Axel, remember?"

She frowned. "Then we will have to hope that it will be enough anyway." She still looked mad at me.

"Kairi," I said. "Why are you mad at me?"

She glared at me. "Because you are Sora. That's why I am mad with you. I am mad at you for being Sora."

"I thought you liked me," I said meekly.

Her glare got more intense. "I did." She turned away. I looked at Riku for guidance, but he shook his head and turned away. Kairi summoned her keyblade. Riku and I summoned ours as well.

"Now, we have to-"

"I don't think so." I jumped when I recognized the voice. A portal had appeared to the left of us while we were talking.

Riku glared at the one who had spoken. "It's you…"

**Who is it? I won't tell you yet! Keep reading and you will find out! We only have three more chapters! Please review!**


	16. Chapter 16

**This is my last fight scene in this story... I hope you have enjoyed my previous fights! Tell me how to improve, because I usually don't write fight scenes. I would appreciate the help. I do not own any of the characters in Kingdom Hearts. This is in Riku's P.O.V. after he sees someone he recognizes. Enjoy!**

There were three of them. Saix, Marluxia, and Vexen. I hated Marluxia with a fiery passion for hurting Sora. He was _mine._ The leader of the group and the one who had spoken, Saix, was looking at me. Kairi went to the left of me, across from Vexen, and Sora went to the right to face Marluxia. I guess that I was stuck with Saix, but I would get Marluxia later. Saix summoned his claymore and Marluxia and Vexen summoned their shield and scythe. We already had our keyblades out.

Saix spoke again. "You could surrender. Then you can live."

I smiled grimly. "Yeah right." I charged towards him. I could see Sora and Kairi running towards their opponents out of the corner of my eye.

I zoned in on Saix. I knew the way he fought, since I saw him fight Sora on our earlier adventure, so that gave me an advantage. I knew that the top of this room was made of glass, so he could call on the power of the moon. I would have to stay away from him when he did that.

He was standing still and absorbing the power from the moon. I rushed at him and did a bunch of combo attacks. I did them quickly because I knew what happened next.

He was about to go berserk. I could feel it. I quickly stepped back before he thrust down his claymore. He raised it up and kept swinging it at me. I dodged most of the attacks by stepping out of the way, jumping, or ducking. Whenever I was forced to block it with my keyblade, he used so much force hitting me that I took damage from blocking his attack.

When he stopped being berserk, I hit him as hard as I could with my combos. I was getting tired quickly. I knew that I could hold off another one of his berserker phases, but I wasn't sure if I could handle one after that. He was stronger than when he fought Sora.

He went berserk again, and I dodged most of them, but towards the end of the phase he got a lucky blow on my shoulder. I winced, but I kept dodging. Now I _knew_ that I couldn't last another berserk phase. When he was calm, I attacked him once again. I _had_ to defeat him now!

Unfortunately, he went berserk again. I turned desperate. When he tried to hit me on the side, I ducked and swung my legs at him. He tripped and fell over, but he managed to hit my hard on my shin. I got up painfully. He wasn't berserk now, but I knew that he would be soon. I raised my keyblade and brought it down. It struck his chest dead on. I pulled back my keyblade.

He looked to the sky with glazy eyes. "Why?" The darkness surrounded him and he disappeared forever. I was exhausted, but I looked around.

Sora and Marluxia were evenly matched, and I ran forward to help him. Marluxia looked and saw the last bit of the darkness surrounding Saix. He summoned a portal and quickly left. I looked at Sora. He still looked like he was full of energy. _Lucky. _I looked over at Kairi and Vexen.

Vexen was on the ground and he was using he shield to protect himself. He looked like he was finished, but then he gradually sat up and made his shield disappear. Kairi stopped attacking, but she kept her keyblade pointed at him.

She glared at him. "What do you want?" She was still angry from the talk with Sora. For a second, I felt sorry for Vexen.

He smiled. "I just want to tell you that if you kill me, Sora will die." My feelings of pity vanished.

Sora looked surprised. I joined Kairi and glared at him. "What do you mean? If you don't tell us, then _you_ are going to die."

He was still smiling even though he had two keyblades pointed at him. He was getting on my nerves. "If you kill me, I won't be able to tell you how to save Sora's life."

Sora was starting to look confused. "So if _you_ are not going to kill me, then who or what is?"

Vexen's smile grew even wider. "Roxas will."

**I hope you are happy, The Dark Door. Riku finally fought someone! Sorry it took so long... Anyway, hope you enjoyed my cliff hanger:) I update once a day, so don't stress. I will tell you about it soon. Make sure to review! Only two more to go...**


	17. Chapter 17

**The second to last chapter. So sad... This isn't really that exciting of a chapter, but it adds suspence... And you all know how much I love that:) I do not own any of the Kingdom Hearts characters. Really? Yeah. REALLY. Like you didn't know that afer me telling it to you 16 times...This is after Axel starts telling Roxas about his memories, and it is in Roxas' P.O.V. Enjoy!**

My head felt like it was going to explode. All of this information! I was glad that I was sitting down. As Axel talked, I remembered my old memories, and all of the scattered memories in my head finally made sense. But…

"There is something that you forgot," I said.

Axel sighed. "I told you everything about your past. I _know_ I didn't forget anything." He summoned his portal and a glass of water came out. He picked it up and started drinking it.

I looked at him and his water. "How did you get that water, and can you even drink it? You are all fiery. Wouldn't water extinguish your flame?"

He raised an eyebrow and lowered his glass. "I can summon anything I want through my portal, so a glass of water is easy to get. I have to drink to survive like any other person. I actually need more water than normal because most of it evaporates. My body temperature is a bit hotter than everyone else's. I also just told you a very long story, so my throat is dry." He picked up his glass again.

"Oh," I replied stupidly. "Well, I am telling you that you forgot something because I still have a memory that doesn't fit."

Axel finished his water and looked at me. "Can you tell if it is a recent memory or an old one?"

I thought for a second. "It is a recent one."

Axel nodded. "So, I wouldn't know what it is from. Do you remember anything about the memory?"

I looked at the sunset. "All that I remember was that I was with Saix and Vexen. They were talking about Sora, I think."

"It will come to you eventually," said Axel. "For now you should let all of your other memories sink in. I am sure that you are overwhelmed with all of this new information."

"Yeah. I am overwhelmed, but I'm glad that you told me." I smiled at him. "But what about Sora and the others?"

He looked back at the sunset. "They will be safe. We will join them once you feel better."

I sighed. "I just have a bad feeling that Sora isn't safe, and it has something to do with my unexplained memory."

He frowned. "They are always in trouble. It is a part of being a keyblade wielder."

"I know, but… It is something more serious than a couple of heartless. I feel like Sora is going to _die_ soon."

He looked at me. "How soon?"

I thought for a second. "Today."

He turned away and went deep in thought. "We can't go today. The earliest we can go is tomorrow. I want you to absorb the information."

I looked down. "I also feel like _I_ am going to die soon."

Axel quickly turned his head towards me. "What do you mean? You _can't_ go away again!" I looked up and saw that Axel was _very_ angry.

I tried to reassure him by giving him a smile, but it didn't work. He continued to talk, or more accurately, yell. "Do you know what happened after you left? I _broke._ I wanted to _die_ when you left, and the only thing that kept me going was the thought that you might come back. You are my life force, Roxas. You are the _only_ thing that keeps me going. You can _not _go away. I don't care if Sora dies as long as you stay with me."

That rang a bell. A loud,_ important_ bell. It was from my memory! "Wait Axel! I know how Sora and I will die!"

He stopped glaring at me, but he still looked mad. "How will you die, and how can we stop it?"

I looked at the sky and I sadly shook my head. Sora and I will both die because of Vexen's invention, and it is too late to stop it."

**Yay! Suspence! The next and last chapter is coming soon. Tomorrow, actually. I hope to see lots of reviews for the last chapter!**


	18. Chapter 18

**The last chapter! I am so sad... I loved writing this, and I would like to thank EVERYONE for supporting me! I wanted to have everyones P.O.V. in this, so the bold letter at the beginning of the paragraph stands for the point of view. For example, the first paragraph is in Sora's P.O.V. S=Sora, A=Axel, K=Kairi, and X=Roxas. I didn't want to confuse everone with Roxas and Riku, since they both started with an R. Sorry none of this is in Riku's P.O.V, but it didn't really fit in this chapter... I do not own any characters in Kingdom Hearts. Please enjoy this last chapter!**

**S** "Roxas? Why would _he_ kill me?" I was confused. I already _knew_ that Roxas and I were going to die, and I knew that we were going to die_ today_. It was this feeling I had. I thought that Marluxia would kill me, but he didn't. If Roxas was going to die today, why would _he_ kill me?

Vexen _still_ had a smile on his face. "He won't _mean_ to kill you. It will be accidental. I can tell you more if you put away those keyblades." He gestured to Kairi and Riku. They were still glaring at him.

"No," said Riku. "You have already tricked us, and we won't let you do it again."

Vexen shrugged. "Do what you want. All that I wanted was some comfort. Sora is still going to die anyway."

"Just tell us!" Wow. Even _Kairi_ was shouting. I guess that she is still angry at me."

He looked at me again. "Well, I didn't get the chance to tell you everything about my invention, since you escaped." He glanced at Riku. "If you _had_ stayed, then I would have told you that the effects aren't permanent."

Riku's glare turned into a look of concern. "So how long does it last?"

Vexen looked at him in amusement. "It will last until the sun goes down, which is in about two minutes, but if Roxas and Sora are not next to each other at that time…" He looked away dramatically. "Then they will both _die_. And that will be _horribly _tragic." He turned back towards us and smirked. "But there is a way for Roxas to live."

"What is it?" By now, I knew that I _would_ die. It takes a minute to use a portal, and we didn't know where Roxas was. But if Roxas could live, I would try my hardest to help him.

Vexen summoned a portal. Riku eyed it warily. And he pulled out…

A keyblade.

…...

**A** I quickly jumped off the tree. Roxas followed me. "We have to get you back to Sora! You _have_ to live! Even if you go back inside of him, you will still be alive." I summoned a portal and pushed Roxas in. I followed him.

We had a minute in the portal. I knew that we wouldn't make it in time, but I _had_ to try. When Roxas had told me about his memory, I was so _angry._ Why did the worlds want to keep us apart?

Roxas rubbed his back. "You _could_ have been gentler pushing me." He looked at me sadly. "You know that we will be too late."

I looked away. "We have to try."

I could feel his gaze scorching my back. He sighed. I looked at him. "You were my first friend," he said.

"Mine too. My first _real_ friend. I will miss you."

He smiled sadly. "I will miss you too." He looked at the faint light coming into the portal. We were almost there.

…

**S** It was black, of course. Down the middle of it, it had a red line, and streaks of red streamed off of the main line. It looked like it was bleeding and crying at the same time. Vexen held it out to me. I made my keyblade disappear and grabbed the new one.

"It is called Destiny's Choice. It can preserve life or bring death." I looked at it more closely. It was a fitting name for it.

He continued talking. "If you strike your heart with this keyblade willingly, you will die, but you will allow Roxas to live. This keyblade also separates you from anyone living in your heart, but you already did that, so it doesn't matter."

I looked at Kairi. "Well, I'm leaving you for a bit." I smiled at her.

She looked like she was about to cry. "But, you _can't_ leave me! How will I live without you?"

"I have left you before," I said gently. "You can be with Riku now. I know you love him. He will help you through this."

Kairi was speechless. She turned away. Riku glared at me. "She is in love with _you_. Don't you understand that?"

Now _I _was speechless. I looked at Kairi. She glanced up and gasped. I looked down.

I was fading away.

…

**K** Vexen looked at Sora. "Strike your heart now, before it is too late."

I looked at my love. He was looking at me with those blue eyes that I fell in love with when I first saw him. But he was gradually turning into an outline.

He composed himself and smiled. "I love you Kairi." I looked at him. Now that I thought about it, I _can't_ live without him. He was my life. He lifted his arms and raised Destiny's Choice so that it was at a 45 degrees angle pointing down at his heart.

I don't know why I did it. I dropped my keyblade and I ran towards Sora. I went under his arm and stood up so that I was facing him. His eyes widened, and he tried to stop it, but it was too late.

…

**X** I had started fading as I came out of the portal, but I was suddenly solid again. I was confused. I came out of the portal with Axel and I looked at the scene unfolding in Castle Oblivion in bewilderment.

…

**K** The keyblade went right through our hearts. I was pushed up next to him. I didn't feel the pain. I saw my life flashing before my eyes.

I remembered leaving Sora and Riku not that long ago. Back then, I had thought that I had been courageous, but looking back, I realized that I had been stubborn. So what _was_ courage? Rescuing Sora and Riku in The Castle That Never Was? No. That was doing the right thing. _This_ was courage. Sacrificing my life to be with the one that I love. I could have let him die by himself. But I didn't. I couldn't let him die a lonely death. He didn't deserve that. He was the best person that I knew.

All of those thoughts went through my head in the blink of an eye. I smiled at him. "I love you too." I leaned towards him and our lips melded together perfectly. It was the best moment of my short life. We were one. And we stayed like that until our lives faded away forever.

**This is what EVERYTHING in this series was leading up to. There will be a sequal, so don't worry:) If you haven't reviewed yet, consider making one now. I would appreciate it. I hope you enjoyed my first story, and the sequal will be here in a few weeks. THANK YOU FOR READING THIS! **


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